Volucella bombylans LINNAEUS 1758

Onfared, 2013, Volucella bombylans (Syrphidae, Diptera) recorded from a colony of Bombus mesomelas (Apidae, Hymenoptera) in Iran, Linzer biologische Beiträge 45 (1), pp. 829-836 : 831-836

Volucella bombylans LINNAEUS 1758

Musca bombylans LINNAEUS

Musca plumata DE GEER

Volucella basalis SAY

Volucella evecta WALKER

Volucella facialis WILLISTON

Volucella rufomaculata JONES

H e a d: Body length: 13.2-13.4 mm, face yellow, concave basally, covered with long dense yellow hairs and longer than vertical diameter of eye. Oral margin and gena black. Prementum long and dark brown. Scape and pedicel dark brown, postpedicel (= flagellum) yellowish-orange. Arista about 2 times as long as postpedicel and plumose. Frons

and vertex yellow, covered with long yellow hairs. Occiput covered with long black hairs posteroventraly. The posterodorsal portion of occiput with short yellow hairs.

T h o r a x: Black, covered with long hairs. mesonotum covered with long and dense yellow hairs (except the rectangular median portion which covered with black hairs). Scutellum completely yellow with long and dense yellow hairs. Leg: completely black. Wing: hyaline with a relatively distinct dark brown spot anteromedialy. Calypter dark brown.

A b d o m e n:Black,tergite 2 with yellow dense hairs laterally. Apical half of tergite 3, tergites 4-5 with long and dense white hairs. The sternites covered with long yellow hairs.

Discussions

The adaptive resemblance of one organism (the mimic) usually in colour, pattern, form or behavior to another organism (the model) is known as mimicry (DHOORA 2008). Among four types of mimicry: 1. Aggressive mimicry, 2. Weismanian mimicry, 3. Batesian mimicry (it results from the resemblance of one organism (the mimic) to a protected model, thereby providing the mimic some protection from its enemies) and 4. Mullerian mimicry (DHOORA 2008), behavior of V. Bombylans considered being of third type. Although some researchers believed that this behavior aroused for ease entrance of V. bombylans into the bumblebees nest but protection purpose is more logical and acceptable. This is because, adult flies with various pattern of coloration of bumblebees were seen to enter their nest. V. bombylans have different color pattern compare with Bombus mesomelas collected in Iran (MONFARED et al., 2008). V. bombylans adults collected in Iran is very similar to B. terrestris in appearance (Fig. 3) not as said before like B. mesomelas (Fig. 4). In bumblebees nest workers as guards of coloney, sting flies during their entrance but they can always come into the nest. Finally, flies would be killed but a reflection mechanism could make flies to throw out the eggs in the nest and these eggs would grow in the nest and complete their life cycle (ALFORD 1975).

In this research observed that a number of V. bombylans larvae were at nest entrance, since larvae of this fly is vermiform, with no legs, occurring of some of them at entrance of Bombus nest showed that these larvae were removed by workers to out of nest.

Various aspects of interactions between bumblebees’ species and this fly not examined yet and need more study. Many questions exist and would be interesting for more researches.

Of 34 species of bumblebees recorded from Iran ( MONFARED et al., 2007) by now, just nest of 5 species discovered and excavated. These species included B. terrestris , B. persicus , B. argillaceus and B. mesomelas which excavated from underground in Fasham and Lalan around Tehran ( MONFARED et al., 2007). Late researches have been shown that all bumblebees species color pattern have coincidence with environmental circumestances for more protections ( WILLIAMS 2007). Lately nest of B. armeniacus excavated and mite associated recognized by AZHARI et al., 2011. There is not a standard way to easy find nests of bumblebees just by sudden seeing entrance by chance. There are some methods explained by ALFORD (1975) and SLADEN (1912) for this purpose but really it’s difficult to find and extracting bumblebees nest. Nest of many of species of bumblebees not seen and studied by biologists by now (HEINRISH 1979).

Acknowledgment

Authors would be glad to thanks from Mr. Pezhman Haidari for valued helps in collecting specimens and extracting colony and Mr. Amanollah Afshari for his valued drawings of larva.

Zusammenfassung

Während der Ausgrabung eines Nestes von Bombus (Thoracobombus) mesomelas GERSTAECKER ( Hymenoptera , Apidae ) in den Sabalan Bergen in Meshkinshahr im nordwestlichen Iran im Sommer 2009 konnten dort Larven von Volucella bombylans (LINNAEUS 1758) ( Diptera , Syrphidae , Eristalinae ) entdeckt werden, ein Erstnachweis dieser Art in einem Hummelnest im Iran.

References

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Authors' addresses: Alireza MONFARED Dept. of Plant protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran & Environmental and Natural Resources Researches Institute of Yasouj University, Yasouj Iran E-mail: [e-mail] [e-mail]

Shahrzad AZHARI

Dept. of Plant protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran & PhD student of Agricultural Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Ebrahim GILASIAN

Plant Protection Research Institute,

Insect Taxonomy Department, Tehran, Iran Fig 1: Finding and extracting of coloney of bumblebees: (a) Hole of entrance of B. mesomelas colony, (b) first signs of colony, broods appeared, (c) materials covered the colony, (d) colony under materials appeared.

Fig 2: (a) B. terrestris queen and (b) adult fly of V. bombylans .

Fig. 3: Schematic drawing of Volucella bombylans (without using of drawing-tube attachment), (a) Ventral aspect; (b) breathing tube, 6 spin processes; (c) dorsal view.

Fig. 4: B. mesomelas queen (all casts have the same colour pattern in Iran).